❤️🔥 Write for Passion
Ray Bradbury suggests we write for passion not profit.
This week has been quieter regarding the summer holidays, so I sat down and read Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing.
Bradbury changed my life, or rather his book Fahrenheit 451 did. I first read it in school and thought it was okay, then in my 20s, I liked it more. I have read it every year since, growing increasingly in love with it. I am planning a re-read next week. 🤣
After this, I fell in love with The Martian Chronicles. So it is worth saying I am a fan, so his writing advice hits home.
One of the things he kept saying throughout the book was to write for passion, not money. It is something I have learned the hard way. This is never more true than with the new system at Medium that has halved my earnings.
The truth is that Medium no longer makes me happy; in fact, it depresses the hell out of me. Then I thought, so what am I passionate about?
This newsletter which I look forward to writing every week
Murder Mayhem UK
Teaching
Books
Fiction which I haven't written for ages.
Of course, my family feature at the top of that list. To keep being able to spend time with them, I need to write what I enjoy, which is why the focus of my writing has changed. I also need to free up more time for a new project. More on that in a bit.
I will concentrate on my Substack newsletters; Medium will get repurposed posts only.
On Ko-Fi, I am sharing my bookworm life. If you want to see what I am reading, what I enjoyed and generally ramble on about books, then head over there and give me a follow.
As for my last passion for teaching, I have exciting news. Myself and partner in crime, Edward Anderson, are opening a crime academy. If you have ever wanted to write research-based articles and never know where to start, this is the place for you.
We see so many courses by writers that try to teach the craft that are not worth the three figures they charge that we wanted to change things up. As a teacher for twenty-five years, poor teaching is the one thing that winds me up. Many of these courses fall into that category.
It is a myth that anyone can teach, but I know I can; who better to learn the craft of history and crime writing from? You can check out our shiny new page here if you are interested.
Why Patreon? Because there is no commitment of continual financial commitment for you, you can start and stop as many times
as you want. Is that not better than playing $500 for a course you never look at?
Finally, the eagle-eyed of you will see that fiction has appeared as a section on this site. The first story I shared this week is my most famous short story ever, getting 10K claps and 86 comments. Check it out below.
If you enjoy this email, please share it so more readers can find it.
Until next week stay safe
Sam 😊
Quote of the week
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin
Photo of the week
Articles this week
The Last Article from a Desperate Writer
I’m not even sure, as I write this, anyone will read it. Still, the best part of my life was as a writer, it seems right my last act is writing. If this is my last act. I’m not even sure of that anymore. To help you understand I need to start from the beginning, let you know how it all started to go so wrong. I am a true cr…
How to Write Different Types of Blogs
Eight types of blog I hear you cry, what is this insanity. Blog comes from the word ‘Weblog’ and means to update regularly and in chronological order. I didn’t know that, I also didn’t know how many different types of blog were available to write until I started writing.